Armor & Mobility

SEP-OCT 2016

Military magazines in the United States and Canada, covering Armor and Mobility, focuses on tactical vehicles, C4ISR, Special Operations Forces, latest soldier equipment, shelters, and key DoD programs

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 26 of 47

CHANGING COMMS WITH TACTICAL RESILIENCY
By Dan Losada, Sr. Director, Defense & Intelligence Systems, Hughes Network Systems, Inc.
Communications play a key role
in the U.S. military's global reach and
responsiveness. This is especially
important at the tactical level, where
smaller units need to stay connected to
installations hundreds, if not thousands,
of miles away. Beyond-line-of-sight
satellite communications (SATCOM)
forms a significant link to the U.S.
Army's tactical networks and existing
capabilities including the Warfighter
Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T).
These advanced space-based capabilities
allow widely dispersed forces to maintain
situational awareness through secure,
integrated, video and data connectivity.
Mission needs are always evolving,
often faster than existing dedicated
military systems and equipment can
be modified or developed to keep up.
However, innovative and agile commercial
satellite technologies can be quickly
deployed to help the Army and the
Department of Defense (DoD) as focus and
strategies change. Commercial systems
use more flexible advanced technology
to provide a variety of capabilities, such
as ultra-lightweight SATCOM terminals
that can be rapidly integrated into
existing networks such as WIN-T using
government or commercial satellites.
Above all, these commercial systems
provide Army tactical communications
with the added degree of resiliency
needed for operations in today's chaotic
and contested environments.
Contested-proof
Comms
The DoD sees the urgency of creating
more robust resilience in communications
to withstand existing vulnerabilities. Adding
this critical element to military resources
will allow warfighters in the field to focus
on their mission, rather than worry about
whether their communications network
will maintain functionality throughout the
operation. Commercial satellite service
and technology providers such as Hughes
understand this need for heightening
resiliency, and more specifically, in
anti-access and area denial (A2AD)
environments to counter possible threats.
Hughes incorporates various methods to
help maintain network resiliency, including
flexible modem interfaces, advanced
protected waveforms, wideband frequency
hopping, and secure management
systems. In addition, commercial software
and equipment play a significant part in
ensuring new levels of resilience. These
technologies consistently include security
protocols that closely follow or exceed
U.S. government networking standards.
The SATCOM network equipment and
software all work as a unified system,
and forms a secure and rugged ground
infrastructure that links to the space
segment via protected waveforms. One
of these highly advanced and flexible
waveforms developed by Hughes, the
Scrambled Code Multiple Access (SCMA)
Waveform, is a vital part of the emerging
tactical communications capability that
can support DoD-wide resiliency anywhere
in the communications network.
The core waveform for Hughes' new
family of lightweight tactical terminals,
SCMA, is based on very low-rate coding
and new multiple access techniques. The
waveform works independently of the
selected frequency band, such as Ku-, Ka-,
and X-band, strengthening the operational
flexibility and creating more appeal to
the warfighter community. SCMA also
operates under the communications
noise floor, making it difficult for
adversaries to even detect it for spectral
analysis. Variable code rates, modulation,
and spreading factors allow the terminals
using SCMA to flexibly trade between
throughput and bandwidth against power
and anti-jamming capabilities.
The SCMA waveform is synchronized
to support reliable and assured operation
in very adverse noise and jamming
environments. Besides having the
capability to run frequency-hopping
functions to increase bandwidth, SCMA
also includes Upper Layer Protocol
Enhancement protection against
pulse jamming and other disruptions.
The combination of these capabilities
provides the waveform with inherent low
probability of detection and interception
as well as natural anti-jamming
characteristics. These elements support
easy integration and consistent operation
against adversarial threats.
Running the SCMA waveform, the new
Hughes HM series products are rugged,
easy to operate systems. These systems
can be deployed in a variety of operational
environments and on multiple platforms
that support expeditionary and other
first entry groups, enabling situational
awareness and ISR gathering. The DoD
is looking for more mobile and portable
satellite communications equipment
that can provide affordable and resilient
connectivity to assure bandwidth
availability on demand. Hughes is filling
these communications gaps with new,
innovative hardware that leverages
software-defined modem technology
paired with the SCMA waveform to bring
a new level of tactical resiliency to the
front lines.
Evolving to Meet
New Missions
Protecting today's national security
requires many different strategies that
vary greatly from those in past conflicts.
The current contested environments
and increasingly aggressive adversaries
have caused the DoD to embrace various
emerging technologies that ensure
robust and resilient systems that support
mission success in every environment.
Technology like this is now coming from
newer, emerging defense companies and
should be actively welcomed by the
DoD to ensure dominant strategic power
for the U.S. and its Allies. Every year
commercial industry is bringing new
solutions with more affordable, secure
and resilient capabilities that help
keep warfighters aware and connected
anywhere on the planet. The DoD should
make it as easy as possible to test and
acquire this new technology given the
rapidly changing landscape of today's
global conflicts.
www.tacticaldefensemedia.com September/October 2016 | Armor & Mobility | 25
INDUSTRY COMMUNICATOR